


Changeling

by Selkie_de_Suzie



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: Butterfly Bog Kids, Changeling - Freeform, Confronting Prejudice, Family Feels, Fluff, Kid Fic, Mixed Race Kid, Mixed Race Pride, Protective Parents, Proud Parents, Suzie's Strange Magic Original Characters, butterfly bog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-20
Updated: 2015-11-20
Packaged: 2018-05-02 12:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5247506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selkie_de_Suzie/pseuds/Selkie_de_Suzie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A child born of Light and Dark, Forest and Field. A creature that will inherit the crowns of both Kingdoms and yet will never truly belong to either. What title will their child choose when faced by suspicion and scorn?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changeling

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by my head canon that Bog and Marianne's children (as well as Sunny and Dawn's kids) would be called "Changelings" as a slur, only to have the kids adopt it and own it as a title, pretty much saying "Yes, this new generation will *indeed* change everything for both the Kingdoms…"
> 
> I'm all for everything that supports being proud about being mixed-race. We need more of that.

_“Changeling.”_

The word is muttered, low and disgusted, mold creeping against a bright bloom, hidden so that she will not hear it.

But their daughter’s ears are sharp, as sharp as her blade, her teeth, and her wits. “What was that?”

She turns around to face the Fairy youth, and they both tense, both frozen in the moment of holding the other back. They’ve always taught her to fight her own battles, told her that she is capable and strong and respected, her own person. That though they will always be there for her, she can take care of herself.

Now they have to follow through with such teachings.

But even as their minds repeat such wisdom, their hearts are savage, beating desperately against breastbone and logic –

They’ve heard it muttered before, spat and whispered, doled out in little droplets of venom and disgust at the sight of her. All beginning the day she was wrapped in primrose petals as a joke, her first visit to the Fairy Court, tender and fragile and beautiful as a bud…

Some of the courtiers had recoiled. _At a baby._

_**Their** baby._

Bog had had to lace his fingers with Marianne’s to keep her from scratching out their eyes.

_“Born of two worlds, belonging neither to Light or Shadow” – “Look at her eyes, look at her wings, look at her smile and skin and form” – “So different, too different” – “Wild and wicked, her blood runs with the same muck found in that Forest” – “She’ll be trouble” – “She **is**  trouble, such a creature was never meant to be, unnatural as their union -”_

She  _is_  different. She is Forest and Field, sunlight and moonlight. Wild in her enthusiasm and wicked in her mischief and fierce in her joys, sweet and guileless and true and trusting, so many beautiful contradictions… 

_She’s their child, their beautiful and strange Wild Thing…_

She’s theirs, and they would protect her.

Bog starts forward, still rash when it comes to protecting his own, but he heeds the fierce squeeze of Marianne’s hand.

But first they have to let her fight.

_We won’t let her down by being hypocrites._

She slowly approaches her foe, cocking her dark head at him as she easily steps in front of her cousins, so much smaller than her. “Mind repeating that for me?”

“Changeling.” He bares perfect white teeth in a sneer. “That’s what you are, aren’t you? All of you, you and your little cousins. Doesn’t matter if they stick a crown on you or not. You’re all  _changelings.”_

The definition is almost carved into their hearts now.  _A strange child left by the Fairies in place of pretty, charming one._

 _Left by. Not wanted._ When they had  _ached_  with want for her, had hoped against hope that it was possible -

She looks at him, eyes so large –  _like hers_  – and so blue –  _like his, Marianne had been so happy that she had gotten Bog’s eyes_  – and –

And she laughs. Sharp and amused and harsh, raucous as any Goblin in her mirth.

She grins at him easily, gives him the smile that her Father passed onto her along with his eyes, the one that marks her so  _different_. “Is that supposed to insult me?”

Bog and Marianne watch from the shadows, hardly daring to breath as she moves closer, her easy gait still calling to mind of a predator stalking prey. “I’m Forest  _and_  Field. My blood runs Light  _and_  Dark.” She spreads her arms, stands to her full height. “I’ve had the weight of two Kingdoms pressing down on me my whole life, and I’m  _still_  unbent.”

There’s a small smatter of laughter from the crowd, and Sunny and Dawn’s small ones look up at her adoringly. The youth, however, is beginning to look a bit pale as she comes closer to him, those bright green eyes of his looking at those fangs.

Her smile fades, but her words are delivered in that same, even tone, a trace of the burr that she’s inexplicably picked up from Bog caressing the letters. “Ah’m different. Ah’m neither Fairy nor Goblin – Ah’m both. For th’ longest time Ah dinnae know  _what_  ta call myself. Got a wee bit rough at times, Ah don’t mind tellin’ ye.”

The smile is back, and very sincere. “So thank you.  _Changeling._  It’s perfect.”

She turns on her heel and flares her wings, her words as bright as her eyes, as sharp as her smile. “Because l  _will_ change the world.” Her eyes are pitying as she glances back over her shoulder at him. “And you’d best find some new insults.”

She saunters away from the devastation she has wreaked, cool and casual, leaving the Fairy youth to gape after her.

They watch the Crown Princess of both the Dark Forest and the Light Fields from their place in the shadows, from a darkness that amazingly hasn’t been burned away, what with their hearts so full of light, bright and burning. If they can’t breathe now, it’s because of the fierce pride making their throats close tight.

_Their Wild Thing…_

Changeling and proud of it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a wee taste of what I have in store in regards to the spawn of Bog and Marianne. You'll be seeing a lot more of this feisty girl in future fanfics of "Strange Hearts & Wild Things" - I can't wait to introduce her to you properly!


End file.
